Vadim Vikulov – “We swam – we know”: businessman leads foreigners to strategic facilities of the country

The government of the Russian Federation, headed by Mikhail Mishustin, could be misled by lobbyists of large agro-industrial and stevedoring structures.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed orders according to which additional land plots will be included in the boundaries of the seaports of Feodosia (Crimea) and Azov (Rostov).

People in the region are wondering whether port assets in Rostov-on-Don itself will fall under the next expansion – after all, this can cause both a domestic Russian and an international scandal.

It’s all about large agro-industrial and stevedoring companies operating in the Rostov region. First of all, we are talking about Aston Group of Companies – a structure with international capital, its key Russian beneficiary is considered a businessman Vadim Vikulov. Its structures (and, in particular, its affiliated company Torgovy Port LLC in Rostov-on-Don) have already had claims from the FAS, as well as other authorities.

There is a version that such documents for the signing of the Prime Minister Mishustin could be “enclosed” by colleagues from the Government. Is it worth excluding the option of staying in the Russian Cabinet of Ministers for people who want to do something similar with the Rostov ports in order to lobby the interests of certain commercial structures – for example, the same Aston? ..

Note that Aston Group of Companies and its beneficiary Vikulov have long been trying to ascribe patronage from the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Oksana Lut. She herself is considered a protege of Minister Dmitry Patrushev, as well as the most likely candidate for his place in the future.

It was Aston Group, despite the presence of foreign capital in it, that became one of the first structures that joined the Union of Grain Exporters in 2019. Oksana Lut is credited with the idea of ​​creating such industry unions. In the summer of 2020, the government introduced export quotas for wheat, rye, barley and corn. Most of the quotas were received by Aston.

There is an opinion that Mishustin could also be “inspired” with such a decision. Rumor has it that if he knew whose mill such innovations poured water on (albeit under the guise of good intentions), he would think ten times whether it was worth giving to it.

For rent at home – competitors “rest”?

The expansion of port and stevedoring capacities, and even with the “plus” in the form of assigned federal lands, is probably the most beneficial for Vadim Vikulov. In the same 2019, after receiving quotas from the Ministry of Agriculture, he announced that Aston Group of Companies, together with the Belgians from Vandeputte Huilerie SA, were establishing a new enterprise in the Rostov region – ASVA. It will be engaged in the construction of a “special enterprise” for the processing of flaxseed and the production of linseed oil.

A significant part of this good could go for export in different ways. But the main route, of course, turned out to be through Torgovy Port LLC, which is directly connected with the Aston Group of Companies and Mr. Vikulov. The port facilities are located in Rostov-on-Don and are not subject to Mishustin’s orders to expand the land of the Azov port.

But this state of affairs may change, since ASVA intends to build a plant in the industrial zone of the Azov region. And the port in Azov (through which it will be clearly easier to ship products than to transport them to Rostov) just falls under Mishustin’s order. That is, the development of the Azov port, in which Vikulov may well acquire shares, is beneficial for his business.

And here serious contradictions suddenly appear, which should also be borne in mind by the head of the federal Cabinet of Ministers, and the authorities of the Rostov region. The fact is that earlier Vikulov’s business was deprived of two berths and two land plots in Rostov-on-Don, which he rented from the already mentioned Trading Port LLC. We are talking about berths No. 2 and 3 on 1st Lugovaya Street, as well as two sections of port facilities with a total area of ​​over 38 thousand square meters. meters, which the Aston Foods and Food Ingredients company leased from Torgovy Port LLC.

The trick is that the latter is a subsidiary of Aston itself, writes about this “Rostov newspaper”. It turns out that Vikulov rented space from himself? In this case, what kind of fair competition for port capacities can we talk about? ..

The question arises: why then rent, in fact, from themselves? So that you have to pay less, transfer less taxes, and kindred spirits in the owners of the “counterparty” will not ask questions?

The story may be deeper, since it is indicated in open sources that the owner of a 100% stake in the company is, after all, not Aston, but Azovo-Donskaya Company LLC (ADC), one of the largest Russian grain suppliers.

But ADK on a parity basis, 50% each, already belongs to people who are directly related by family ties to Mr. Vikulov. These are Alisa Vadimovna Vikulova (probably daughter) and Tatyana Vladimirovna Vikulova (probably spouse).

The company makes huge money on grain. At the end of 2020, revenue amounted to almost 1 billion rubles, net profit – 70 million rubles, net asset value – 347 million rubles.

What can not be said about LLC “Torgovy Port”. On the contrary, it may seem to someone a fictitious structure. Profit – only 1.1 million rubles, there is not a single employee in the state. At the same time, the size of the assets is impressive, the authorized capital alone is 190 million rubles.

Of course, the proximity of the owners of these structures to each other could not fail to attract the attention of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. But that’s not all. Serious criticism was also caused by the operation of the port in Rostov and the two berths, which were discussed above.

These assets are of strategic importance to the country – like any major port infrastructure. This means that any such decisions (especially concerning structures in which there is a share of foreign capital, as in the Aston Group of Companies) must be agreed upon in the commission for foreign investment control. Judging by how “excited” the FAS is, it seems that Mr. Vikulov missed this moment.

There is no need to look for reasons for a long time – the company itself previously stated that the operation of these two berths allows it to increase the transshipment of grain by 120-150 thousand tons per month. As for foreigners, there are no hidden beneficiaries – the shares in Aston are openly owned by the Swiss company ASTON Agro-Industrial SA.

It directly falls under the scope of the Law of 2008 “On the Procedure for Making Foreign Investments in Business Companies of Strategic Importance for Ensuring the Defense of the Country and the Security of the State”. So why were the necessary documents not submitted to the Government? Is it really because Vikulov knew that he would be refused?

“Fish” in troubled port water

Another important point concerns the history of Torgovy Port LLC, which began (obviously at the suggestion of Vadim Vikulov himself) to dispose of such strategic infrastructure facilities as berths. There is an opinion that Mr. Vikulov could take advantage of a serious corporate conflict in the organization. The authors of conspiracy theories went further and suggested that he could become, if not the initiator of the conflict, then the defendant who added fuel to the fire.

Aston bought the port in 2019, which was the last page in the history of two former partners in this business – the Turkish Nuh Chimento Sanai A.Sh. and a Russian businessman from Rostov-on-Don, Armenak Artemiev.

Their attempt to build a joint business for transshipment of cement and the production of concrete, launched in 2009, was not successful. The Turks accused the Rostov partner Armenak Kochkanyan (since 2015 he changed his surname to Artemiev) of trying to appropriate the business.

During the conflict, the parties exchanged claims. Since 2015, Mr. Artemiev’s successor in the joint business and, accordingly, in the conflict, has been Ruben Malkhasyan, who, it seems, was simply not up to the former plans of the co-owners. And Vikulov could simply take advantage of the situation so that Makhlasyan, as they say, “went into the cash.” Thus, even before this moment, in 2016, Torgovy Port LLC almost went bankrupt.

Even more doubts add to the situation by the fact that recently the structure of the head Russian joint-stock company Aston has been hidden. This could have been done on purpose, and for the same purpose – to divert the “look” of the same FAS and the Government from themselves, since companies are doing business with strategic assets.

Earlier, in open sources, several offshore companies were indicated as owners at once. But last summer they were withdrawn from the founders. In addition, the Moscow Farvater Consult LLC, which was 100% owned by Vadim Vikulov, also disappeared from the same composition.

And here there may be, if not a scam, then at least an understatement, which should be paid attention to by the control and supervisory authorities. The fact is that the company “Farvater Consult” remained among the founders of “Aston”, even though it was liquidated back in 2013. It turns out that this, in fact, a dead structure, which no longer conducted economic activities, could accrue dividends due to its owners, including the same Vikulov.

Vikulov’s business is much more extensive than grain and stevedoring. The businessman himself did not appear out of nowhere. In Soviet times, Vikulov worked at the All-Union Foreign Trade Association Sovfracht. This organization provided transportation of foreign trade goods of the USSR. There Vikulov gained invaluable experience to build his own grain and stevedoring business empire in the new Russia.

In 2004, Vadim Vikulov founded the Investment Promotion Agency of the Rostov Region and headed it until 2012. That is, he was close to the authorities of the region, including Governor Vasily Golubev. He, in turn, could hardly balance between the desire to maintain his own power and the interests of big businessmen. Including quite odious ones – not only Vikulova, but also, for example, Ali Uzdenova.

One way or another, but the Agency under the leadership of Vikulov, with the support of the regional government, attracted international companies to the region. So far, in 2010, Golubev’s first deputy, Sergei Gorban, did not sharply criticize such a symbiosis.

Golubev said that a significant part of the projects that the structure took into account remained only on paper, hinting that one of the leaders (of the agency) should be changed. As a result, two years later, Vikulov still left the post of head. Wrote about it “Notebook”. Whether the business of Vikulov and his patrons could earn points on “fake” investment projects is still not entirely clear.

Vadim Vikulov can enjoy the patronage of both federal and local Rostov officials, headed by Governor Vasily Golubev

It is also known that the son of Vadim Vikulov, Ivan, is also actively engaged in business at the suggestion of his father. His company Shipping Foundation was the first in the world to make a deal to sell a consignment of grain for bitcoins in December 2018. Through it, 3 thousand tons of grain from the port of Rostov were delivered to the Turkish “Samsun”.

Because of this, a long-standing question arises – how then is Ivan Vadimovich going to pay taxes? After all, the sphere of cryptocurrencies in our country has not yet been fully regulated, operations there are opaque. Apparently, opacity and the desire to do business “on the sly”, without attracting the attention of the authorities, is a family trait of the Vikulovs. It is understandable – money loves silence.